Kansas State University’s Educational Communications Center has installed two Utah Scientific Utah-400 routing switchers for video and audio, along with the SC-4 control system, at the center’s production and broadcast facility.
Installed in one day and on the air since March, Kansas State’s new routers are upgradeable to HD by means of a card exchange. Utah Scientific routers are also backward-compatible with legacy analog and digital equipment. While the Kansas State facility is not run by an academic department, a number of students work there.
Located in Manhattan, Kan., Kansas State University is a land-grant institution with an educational communications center whose full production facilities include four studios, an uplink truck and a production truck. Programming includes lectures, music, arts and video-board productions. The center also contracts some commercial work. Besides production, the ECC provides backhaul services for networks including CNN and PBS.
“Like a lot of facilities, we are transitioning as our budget allows, and every dollar is important,” said Robert Nelson, director of engineering at the ECC. “The router is one of the most important pieces of equipment in a facility. To us, a reliable, functional, and easy-to-use router is the key to our future plans, including the eventual upgrade to HD.”
